I'm fine w/ the EXACT team we have now plus a 1st rd pick... Big Baby and Kristic and Green are all FA's. I have no illusions of Howard coming here in 2012. Sign players asap and compete for a title. but when think about re-vamping this team with higher level players... I'd try and use Baby in a sign and trade. Could we trade Baby and two 1st rd picks in a sign and trade for David West. Who can we ship JON/Avery's 8 million too? Who do we spend the MLE on?Posted by rameakap

I like Baby more than David West. West is a better shooter, but Baby is a much better defender. I don't want to go away from the defense.

If all of the expiring contracts that are currently on the Cs roster do indeed expire, the Cs are still way over the current cap and if anything, after they have a lockout and lower the cap and make it a hard cap, the question you pose will be more irrelevant than ever.

In Response to Re: Players to keep an eye on that might look good in Green.... : I like Baby more than David West. West is a better shooter, but Baby is a much better defender. I don't want to go away from the defense.Posted by cpjohn1

C - Kristic 24m, Shaq 12m, KG 12m PF - KG 12m, Varejao 24m, Green 12m SF - Pierce 28m, Green 20m SG - Ray 28m, Mayo 20m PG - Rondo 32m, Davis 16m That seems like a good rotation to me. We'd still have JON (who we can rotate w/ shaq early in the year, never play either O'Neal or KG in both back to backs) then trade his exp contract, maybe w/ Avery at deadline for something. Or an injury may make him a big part of the puzzle. Big 3 get a HUGE breather, mins in the 24-28 range all year, and Rondo enters pre-season knowing he won't see the court in the last 4-6 mins of close games unless he suddently becomes a steady shooter from 18-20 feet and 75-80% at the line.Posted by rameakap

We buy out JON, let Davis walk and use half of the MLE on Richardson and Prince. We trade Avery for a second round pick. We sign David West and Green for 10-12 million over 2 yrs and Delonte, Arroyo, Vujacic and Murphy for the minimum. We sign Jordan for 2 yrs, 10 million and there you go. A successful offseason.

that's who we should look to lock up this off season. if murphy shows him then maybe sign him for a ham sandwich 1 year redemption deal. but so far i'd say murph is going to be playing for peanuts somewhere next year to prove he can still play vs. a multi year deal.

In Response to Re: Players to keep an eye on that might look good in Green.... : Baby getting 24 mins @ PF and 8 @ C will be a 14-7 who gets exposed every now and then b/c of his below the rim game. You can find a borderline starter who gets you 11-5 in 24 mins w/ the MLE or a rookie who gets us that w/ our Clippers pick, only the chance to turn into something much better. You cannot replace Green with those 2 assets.Posted by rameakap

bah. he's doing fine right now below the rim. carried us tonight. has shown the propensity to produce in a variety of clutch situations over the years, does off stat sheet things. teams like to underestimate him and then usually live to regret it.

i think there is more upside to davis' game. if he can get going with more of the inside game and hence more FTA's then he's not at his ceiling. he could be 15 to 16 and 7 boards a night if he gets a steady diet of FTs thanks to his cedric maxwell-like juking in the paint. he draws fouls with it and that's fine by me. he also does a lot of scoring with his post game lately too.

rashid was the worst thing for davis' career ever other than doc burying him on the bench after he personally tuned up the pistons in that key win his rookie year. people think davis has reached his peak and he keeps peaking higher. he might as well do it for us for the next few years.

put it to you this way- you won't find anyone better and anyone who comes in labelled as better by either perception or stats will NOT do the intangibles that davis does on team defense, hustle, drawing charges, etc.

In Response to Re: Players to keep an eye on that might look good in Green.... : bah. he's doing fine right now below the rim. carried us tonight. has shown the propensity to produce in a variety of clutch situations over the years, does off stat sheet things. teams like to underestimate him and then usually live to regret it. i think there is more upside to davis' game. if he can get going with more of the inside game and hence more FTA's then he's not at his ceiling. he could be 15 to 16 and 7 boards a night if he gets a steady diet of FTs thanks to his cedric maxwell-like juking in the paint. he draws fouls with it and that's fine by me. he also does a lot of scoring with his post game lately too. rashid was the worst thing for davis' career ever other than doc burying him on the bench after he personally tuned up the pistons in that key win his rookie year. people think davis has reached his peak and he keeps peaking higher. he might as well do it for us for the next few years. put it to you this way- you won't find anyone better and anyone who comes in labelled as better by either perception or stats will NOT do the intangibles that davis does on team defense, hustle, drawing charges, etc.Posted by aciemvp

Agreed, Davis keeps showing us more and in the process, some fans keep wanting to get rid of him cause he's heavy. When someone plays basketball and is running all the time and staying in shape, that means their weight is their weight. He's just got a big body. He's rebounding, hustling, playing good D, and is strong enough to guard centers for a while in a game. We need players who have "our" mentality on defense (and David West does NOT play good defense) and Davis will learn to get more and more fouls over time like Acie says.

In Response to Re: Players to keep an eye on that might look good in Green.... : Agreed, Davis keeps showing us more and in the process, some fans keep wanting to get rid of him cause he's heavy. When someone plays basketball and is running all the time and staying in shape, that means their weight is their weight. He's just got a big body. He's rebounding, hustling, playing good D, and is strong enough to guard centers for a while in a game. We need players who have "our" mentality on defense (and David West does NOT play good defense) and Davis will learn to get more and more fouls over time like Acie says. Keeping Davis is a priority.

Posted by Celtsfan4life

thank you. enough hating on davis. he doesn't weigh 289. he probably weighs 30 pounds more than that. his conditioning cannot be questioned, he has come to camp each year in better shape than the last so far and you really couldn't say any one of the last couple years that his conditioning was bad! or anywhere close

certain people weigh more, certain people weigh less. one of davis' main assets is that at 6-8 1/2 or whatever he is he wears the crap out of bigger centers used to getting their sweet spot. starve him down to 270 like some of the health nazis here want to and he doesn't do that so much any more.

i think this playoffs will have a lot for davis to offer to produce like he never has before in the post season. we shall see.

Adrian Dantley, Rick Mahorn, Wes Unseld, and others were big heavy guys who couldn't jump, either. But, they made massive contributions to their team. I loved them. Maxwell wasn't overweight but he couldn't jump, either. Like these guys, BBD is in shape and works hard. He rebounds in with the giants, hustles, plays good D, and scores for the second team. Let's stop looking for pretty and look for effective.....which is what BBD is!Posted by Celtsfan4life

Why saddle the team with a Rondo-like contract when you can get a baby every year in the draft?

Is there anyway for any of you to take a step back and look at the possibility of a lockout which will result in a hard cap?

What if the cap is $55 million and you have Rondo locked up for $13million and Baby locked up for another $8 million per year. $21 million out of $55 million and no free agents that want to come here to play with a Pierce that is almost done and KG and Ray are both gone... and in the mean time they get nothing out of the draft as usual......

Please at least assemble two or three of the remaining brain cells to construct some of these ideas.

Hey Dwight 40% of our payroll is tied up in an overrated point guard that has never gotten any better even though he has been in the league and we also have a tweener that is really a back up and whose attitude and skills will erode once KG is not up his a ss every 30 seconds or so?

Of course I want to keep them BOTH. That likely means no Dwight Howard cap space. but is he really going to come here? Use JON, 2 picks (not our Clippers one) or 1 pick and Avery and bring OJ Mayo to pair w/ Delonte in a dynamic backcourt. The 23 yr old Mayo can play 20 mins in '12 behind Ray Allen before he becomes a starter with Green for the 2012-13 season. 2012-14 Starters: Rondo (age 26) - Mayo (25) - Green (26) - Baby (26) - Kristic (29) That is likely not going to be better than Bulls/Heat but it should be as good as Knicks/Hawks. A fun 2nd rd team. I'd assume Ray and KG will stay 2 more years till Paul goes in 2014. Our bench those last 2 years is DWest-Allen-Pierce-KG and whoever we replace Shaq with (have that clips pick in teens) PLUS an MLE signing. Then Danny has cap space and young assets to use summer of 2014 when Big 3 retire to maybe land that superstar that can make us a title contender as the Bron/Melo/Wade/Bosh/Amare all go over age 30.Posted by rameakap

Please at least make a subtle attempt to deal with some level of reality....

(1) you just don't simply trade guys that you don't want for guys that ever GM in the league drools over

(2) there is a new CBA coming, it will ensure that there is very little player movement coming

(3) the Cs trade bait is an absolute joke especially given the hyperinflated value that most posters love to assign to them.......

There is no combination of players that brings Mayo.

All of your other dream scenarios are irrelevant given that there will be a new CBA that will clamp down on player movement.

Let's see I envision a situation where Dwight Howard, OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, Rose, Chris Paul, and LaMarcus Aldridge will be the Cs starting 5 in a couple of years.....

Just stop and look at least at some level of reality and what is likely to happen.

Although it is impossible to predict what the league will look like next year(or the year after if they don't play), I don't think that you can make certain assumptions.

Mayo was very close to being traded for a bag of balls. The only thignthat kept him in Memphis was the chance to make the playoffs.

A hyperinflated Perk, who was injured and only played 8 games prior to the deadline was traded for a good player(#5 pick), a better center, and a #1 pick.Would anyone have thought this possible prior to the deadline? I'm sure there are GM's that attach a much larger value to both Rondo and BBD than some on the board. If a star doesn't want to stay in Denver or Utah(or NO or Orlando), they don't garner a premium in trade.

The potential that the league shrinks after the new CBA is probably better than 50/50. New Orleans is currently owned by the league(Paul, West, Okafor, Ariza, etc. all available if the team is dissolved?). What other teams could go away?I wouldn't be surprised if we had 4 less teams after the new CBA.

So to say that there are no scenarios where a young star comes to Boston as the Big 3 era ends is just as unrealistic, as a poster saying, "JON and Avery Bradley for whomever their favorite FA is".

Although it is impossible to predict what the league will look like next year(or the year after if they don't play), I don't think that you can make certain assumptions. Mayo was very close to being traded for a bag of balls. The only thignthat kept him in Memphis was the chance to make the playoffs. A hyperinflated Perk, who was injured and only played 8 games prior to the deadline was traded for a good player(#5 pick), a better center, and a #1 pick. Would anyone have thought this possible prior to the deadline? I'm sure there are GM's that attach a much larger value to both Rondo and BBD than some on the board. If a star doesn't want to stay in Denver or Utah(or NO or Orlando), they don't garner a premium in trade. The potential that the league shrinks after the new CBA is probably better than 50/50. New Orleans is currently owned by the league(Paul, West, Okafor, Ariza, etc. all available if the team is dissolved?). What other teams could go away? I wouldn't be surprised if we had 4 less teams after the new CBA. So to say that there are no scenarios where a young star comes to Boston as the Big 3 era ends is just as unrealistic, as a poster saying, "JON and Avery Bradley for whomever their favorite FA is". PAPosted by PACelt